PAYTON MIGHT BE ALLOWED TO COACH DURING APPEAL

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell might allow Sean Payton to coach the Saints while he appeals his season-long suspension for his role in the team’s bounties program.

“I said in a letter they have to appeal by April 2, I believe,” Goodell said Monday at the owners meetings in Palm Beach, Fla. “If he decides to appeal, I probably will allow him to continue and I would expedite the hearing and I would expedite my decision.

“We did meet twice and went through the information. If he has something else for me to consider, I will.”

Payton’s agent, Donald Yee, said “no decisions have been made about an appeal” by his client.

“Sean fully supports the league’s player safety goals,” Yee said. “Given this, he probably won’t address the entire league” when he arrives at the owners meetings.

Saints spokesman Greg Bensel said Payton was expected to speak later this week at the meetings. NFC coaches are scheduled to meet the media Wednesday morning. Payton has not addressed the media since the suspension, but has issued two written statements apologizing for the bounty system.

Saints owner Tom Benson continues to back Payton, a person familiar with the situation has told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because the Saints have made no announcements about Payton’s future.

Bill Parcells said Monday he has not been approached about becoming interim coach of the Saints, but he has spoken to Payton about how to handle the season. The coach who led the New York Giants to two Super Bowl victories is a mentor to Payton, and hired Payton as an offensive assistant in Dallas in 2003.

Rules update

Concussions sustained on kickoffs were down 40 percent last season, exactly the kind of statistic the NFL had in mind by moving the kick up to the 35-yard line.

Rich McKay, chairman of the competition committee that proposed the rule change last year, says it “had an effect on the game.” He is surprised that total kickoff returns dropped 53 percent, but is encouraged that player safety improved.

For all plays, concussions were down 12.5 percent.

McKay also says the committee believes quarterbacks are adequately protected, but the owners will vote this week to enhance that by outlawing horse-collar tackles on passers in the pocket.

He also believes players and coaches are more comfortable now about adopting the postseason overtime rule requiring a team losing the coin toss to get a possession if the opponent kicks a field goal on the first series.

Owners also will consider expanding protection of defenseless players to those who are hit by crackback blocks. The proposal calls for outlawing contact to the head area or being blocked by an opponent headfirst.

Around the league

The Rams signed free agent wide receiver Steve Smith, who last year caught nine passes in 11 games with the Eagles before being sidelined by a knee injury.

• Bears President Ted Phillips quashed talk of a trade and said the team intends to keep running back Matt Forte and make him play under the terms of the franchise tag, which would pay him $7.742 million in 2012.